New coaching staff continues to plug same up-tempo mentality

Jack Butler

April 11, 2017

If you follow almost any member of Oregon’s new coaching staff on Twitter, their tweets probably light up your timeline when a new recruit commits or a player makes a highlight play in practice. Don’t forget Willie Taggart’s ringing recruit phone, Marcus Arroyo’s seemingly infinite amount of hashtags or Jim …

The Oregon football team will still go fast. At least that much is for certain. A new coaching staff brings change in multiple ways, but the offense will remain up-tempo.
The Ducks ran from drill to drill in Wednesday’s practice, as they have done in the four others. They started with some quick run-throughs of the offense. Sophomore quarterback Justin Herbert took the first snaps, and he dispersed the ball to the usual suspects of Royce Freeman and Charles Nelson.
After the quick run-through, the Ducks warmed up and started position drills. They ran from one drill to the other with the coaches there as motivation.

Offensive lineman working on their feet and hands. pic.twitter.com/M7Fuhccsqf
— Jack Butler (@Butler917) April 12, 2017

After intense position drills, the entire team ran to begin a small non-contact scrimmage. It was a game without tackling. From play-to-play, Oregon moved as fast as possible. No matter what happened on the play, the Oregon offense and defense was getting ready for the next play.

Oregon still wants to be fast. pic.twitter.com/0wP3UNGIsD
— Jack Butler (@Butler917) April 12, 2017

The offense looked similar to Oregon’s traditional tempo. The quarterback was in shotgun, the wide receivers were bunched with lots of reads, options and screens. For the somewhat new offense, a returning veteran like Nelson is useful.
“Charles’ versatility is huge. It’s huge in tempo because you don’t have to sub,” co-offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo said. “I’m really excited about Charles’ ability to do different things.”
Right now, the offense just wants to learn the changes the right way.
“[The players need to] just get in the playbook,” Nelson said. “Study the plays, knowing our assignments and where we need to be in certain situations and going from there.”
Head coach Willie Taggart expressed concern about wide receiver depth. The Ducks converted former defensive back Malik Lovette and freshman Darrian McNeal to receiver this season.
“It’s a numbers game,” Arroyo said. “When you play fast you have to be able to roll guys out. We need to find guys within the program that are … what we call 2 for 22 guys. How many different positions out of 22 positions on the field — 11 on each side — can he play?”

Skill position drills. pic.twitter.com/FRNM8Dagap
— Jack Butler (@Butler917) April 12, 2017

The offensive line wants to be more physical. Brady Aiello felt Oregon was physical last season, but new offensive line coach Mario Cristobal comes from Alabama where the offensive line is a dominating force.
“The number one thing is definitely physicality,” Aiello said. “[Cristobal] preaches that day in, day out.”